Audio by album jan_14_2008

The Old Mole's Bill Resnick talks with Phil Alden Robinson, board member of the Writers' Guild of America. He also wrote and directed the 1989 film Field of Dreams. They discuss the labor issues involved in the strike and the working life of a writer.

Laurie Mercier and Luz María Gordillo review Zapatista, the play by Dañel Malán about Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatista insurgency in the Mexican state of Chiapas, discussing, among other things, whether the Zapatistas are post-modernists. Zapatista plays in a bi-lingual production through January 19 at Teatro Milagro here in Portland. Follow the link for more information.

Press coverage of Iraq tells us that the US is trying to build a secular democracy there, when in fact democratic and secular groups are most under attack by the US and its Suni and Shia allies. Bill Weinberg, award-winning journalist, radioactivist, and producer at Pacifica's WBAI in New York, talks with Laurie Mercier about civil resistance to the US occupation. Weinberg maintains an on-line journal World War 4 Report with links to more news about the non-religious democratic labor movements in Iraq.

This is the Old Mole Variety Hour in its entirety. Hosted by Laurie Mercier, this program focuses on some popular movements the mainstream media fail to cover. First, Phil Alden Robinson from the Writers Guild talks with Bill Resnick about the writers's strike and how the issues have been slanted by mainstream media. You can hear this segment separately here.